I’m nervous about what it can do and I worry about how it’s going to affect everyone.. especially the younger generation and the environment, and about how it draws on other people’s creative work. So yeah, intention matters a lot to me.

If I’m being honest, there’s a part of me that wishes I didn’t have to use it… but I’m a solo business owner, almost in my 40s, who needs this income to support my family, and keeping up with the competition and with client expectations means I have to work smarter.

Right now, a lot of that “working smarter” means learning to use AI well, and for me, that means using my time more efficiently (especially with a toddler and a 6-month-old)!

So, that’s why I'm starting this series, which I’ll call “Field Notes” since I’m testing a lot :) I hope it sparks ideas for your business and shows you how it can support your work without replacing your skill.

How Each Post Will Work

Every post will follow the same format:

• The problem I came to Claude with

• What I ended up with (a skill, a project, or an artifact)

• How much time it’s saving me (if applicable)

• The steps, broken down for you

• Any prompts or skills you can steal ;)

Let’s Dive In…

001: How I’m Prepping My Portfolio Page With Claude

Ask any designer what their least favorite part of wrapping up a project is, and it rarely has anything to do with the design process. Creating the brand style guide used to top the list (big shout-out to Endform for saving us on that one), but right behind it is getting the finished project onto the portfolio and creating social graphics.

So I hopped into Claude and asked how it could best help me. I had the client’s homework, the brand presentation, the brand strategy, all the final files, and all the graphics. What I needed help with was the page title, the SEO for the page, the copy, resizing and optimizing the graphics so they work best on a portfolio page, renaming them, and writing alt text for SEO.

So yeah, start by asking what’s possible

I really wasn’t sure how much Claude could handle, so I started by simply asking it. As I said above, the main thing I wanted was to compress, resize, and name my past projects easily (bonus: help with copy, too).

It told me right away that although it can’t export from Illustrator, which I kind of assumed, it can definitely look through all of the files. It CAN compress them and resize them, and it can also spot things that need to be fixed...what!?

Honestly, I didn’t expect that!

How It Actually Worked

I could easily connect a folder and choose a past project. From there, it ran the same steps for each brand:

1. Read the brand homework and strategy: so the file names and descriptions matched the project and voice.

2. Create a portfolio-ready folder of copies: I didn’t want it touching any of my originals, so it worked only from copies.

3. Optimize every image for web: I LOVED that it did this!

4. Rename everything for SEO: each name matched the page title and the brand project, with the keywords near the front and my studio name, Saffron Avenue, at the end.

5. Write alt text for every single image: short, descriptive, and pulled from the actual brand, including the colors. It put all of it into a file for me so I can add it to Showit.

6. Write SEO page descriptions for each project: the meta title, the meta description, and a case study write-up, pulled from the project strategy and the questions it asked me along the way, all ready to paste right in.

I had to test it a few times before it ran the way I wanted, and I tweaked it as I went.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ;)

What It Flagged

As it ran, it started flagging things. Mind you, I didn’t even prompt it to, but it started to tell me things that needed attention.

• Duplicate images that had been added to the folder twice

• Crops that looked off, where it asked whether I wanted certain images recropped

• Inconsistent sizes, which it resized so everything matched

• Typos: Yes, it caught typos within images that both my client and I completely missed!

• Color differences between images, since some had been exported as CMYK and others as RGB, so it cleaned them all up

P.S. CMYK is a print color model, and images for the web should be RGB, because browsers don’t handle CMYK well and the colors can shift or go flat on screen. If you’ve ever dropped a print file onto a website and watched your soft sages turn muddy, you know the problem. Claude converted the files to sRGB using the embedded color profile.. which is so cool.

Where I Stayed in Charge

This was not “press a button and publish.” I did some trial and error at every step. I chose which images made the cut and which were just raw assets/stock, I confirmed the keywords, and I checked the color and size. When it drafted the page copy, the first versions were close but they weren’t me, so I rewrote them in my own voice and added what made each project unique. For example, Claude never would know why I decided to to use a silver locket design or why I chose a specific flower.

But Claude did handle all of that tedious work that would take me hours to complete.

Where It Lives on Claude

Once it worked, I didn’t want to explain it from scratch every time. So I turned the process into a skill and kept it in a set project, so I can point it at a client folder, run my exact steps, and keep every portfolio piece in one place I can come back to.

The Time Difference

Before, each project took me about 3+ hours to resize, recrop, organize, rename, write alt text, write the page copy, research the SEO. Now it takes about 45-60 minutes. The thing that takes the longest is truly just decided what images to use where and next to one another on the page ;)

Your Takeaway

Honestly, if you’re sitting on a ton of finished work that you’ve been “meaning to share”, this is your opportunity to try it. A few things I would suggest:

• Put the brand strategy or homework up front in the folder: this will help immensely with the copy.

• Share extra info: Feel free to share their domain, job title, etc. That is helpful too.

• Treat the first draft of any writing as a starting point: your voice and experience with the project is what matters.

The best part isn’t even the time saved, though there was a lot of it. It’s that the work I’m proud of will finally make it onto my site while it’s still fresh, instead of waiting years (yes, years).

Try It for Yourself

This Claude skill will turn a folder of raw client brand images into portfolio-ready files: web-ready sRGB JPGs under a size cap, SEO-named, with alt text, a manifest, and a case study page copy.

Read more

The Holidays are over, the chaos of travel is done, and you are extra motivated to start 2027 with intention. That means setting your quarterly goals, brainstorming product/offering ideas, and more than anything, getting excited for what the new year will bring.

So you sit down and start planning your strategy. You need to update your website, start building social content for what is coming, and quickly realize your brand isn't ready for any of it. You don’t love your fonts, you are slightly embarrassed by your logo, you don’t know how to use your colors, and more than anything.. you aren’t excited about your brand.

The short answer to the question in the title is yes ;) If you have a new product, service, or launch coming and your brand doesn't quite fit it yet, refresh the brand before the project starts…please don’t do it last minute or in the middle!

What I want you to think about…

One of two things could be true for you in January:

01: You opened your new brand assets (all beautifully organized ;) Your fonts, colors, logo, and brand elements are sitting there, ready to use. You know exactly how to use it and excited to bring it to life.

02: You are overwhelmed. You are trying to launch and rebuild the foundation at the same time, and you feel less confident than you would like to be going into the season. And trust me, I have quite a few clients come to me in this version, 1/2 way through, and realize how much they are struggling without a brand direction.

So yeah, the latter is an outcome that could be fixed months earlier ;)

I’ve seen it from the other side, too. When a client’s brand is solid, they stop second-guessing every post and just get to work. The ones who struggle are usually the ones whose brand doesn’t give them a direction yet.

Is your brand ready for what you are launching?

I’m going to recommend asking yourself a few questions:

• Are my brand elements (the logo), colors, and fonts the same everywhere, or different on each platform?

• Am I putting off creating new things because I don’t like the overall look or don't have a real direction?

• When I think about the launch, am I excited about the offer but dreading the marketing?

After answering those questions, I have a feeling you know where you stand. Your brand itself is not broken (trust me), it just might not have caught up to the business you are building.

The Letter to Your Future Self

Here is a fun idea that I think is the best way to know if something needs to change.

Head on over to futureme.org, write a short email to yourself (P.s. I just realized you can do this with Gmail scheduling too ;)… Mine would go something like this:

“Dear Angela,

It’s me, your past self ;)

Have you started prepping and planning for your new product/offering yet?

Have you thought about how you’ll design and market? Or does that thought make you feel slightly anxious or uneasy? Imagine how confident you will feel when you launch if your branding, fonts, colors, and direction are cohesive and easy to build on..

* So yeah, if you are feeling uneasy, maybe it’s time for a refresh and see if Angela’s semi-customs are a good fit ;) Just sayin’ *

Yours truly, First name”

Schedule that email for a month or two from now.

Why does cohesion matter more than a new logo?

Notice what I asked in that letter: not just “is your logo ready,” but whether your branding, your copy and your direction feel cohesive and easy to build off of.

A brand is a set of decisions you stop having to make. It’s when your colors, fonts, voice, and templates are aligned. A launch should be a series of small, quick tasks you can check off. When they aren't, every post, every website page, and every email becomes an overwhelming design decision.

When I finally did my own rebrand, it felt like a weight lifted. My excitement and confidence shifted. Designing a new social template, an email, or a Showit page became about 10x easier, because I was in love with my brand and knew exactly how to use it. That’s what I want for you.

Because designing and writing a quick launch email sequence should take only a few hours.. not 3 days.

What does a semi-custom refresh actually include?

Semi-customs all start with the {detailed} homework. Every client fills out my brand workbook, and then I get to do my favorite part, which is connecting the dots. I look at how their workbook answers line up with their Pinterest pins, and at the one or two pre-made brands they were drawn to. It’s almost like a puzzle. I’m figuring out what fits best, and then how to make it feel unique to their own story.

One of my favorite parts is the “brand party” question, where clients describe what their brand party would look like. Then they go pin images without thinking about it, and those pins end up matching what they said. They don’t even realize they’ve already told me what they want.

Take a peek HERE to see some fun semi-custom brand transformations!

Is a semi-custom brand right for you, or do you need fully custom?

This is the question I get most often ;) A few clients have come to me absolutely sure they are in need of a full custom brand because they feel like they were all over the place. But, when I look at their inspiration and homework, I can often see a direction more clearly than they could. So, pairing that with a smaller budget and tighter timeframe, I often recommend a semi-custom.

Fully custom is still the right call when you want everything built from the ground up, plus strategy, in-depth presentations, curated graphics and additional brand elements.

If you’re not sure which one you are, that’s exactly what the discovery call is for.

BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL

Why does timing matter so much…

If you’ve been watching me share past work over the last year and thinking, “Wow, another beautiful brand, I wish that could be me.” Well, right now, I am only taking on two (sometimes three) semi-custom clients per month, and it all starts with that 30-minute discovery call.

So if your launch is 8-12 weeks away and you start the conversation today, you have room. If it is three weeks away.. I just ask you not to try AI to get it done; just wait until after launch. Because HUMAN-MADE makes a difference ;)

I’ve been doing this for 14+ years.. with features in books & magazines, various awards, hundreds of custom projects, and even some big clients {LoveShackFancy, Pierson Fode, Brunello Cucinelli, Chris Bosh, Katrina Scott, etc}. Yet, I still get that weird, quite uncomfortable feeling when I sit down and create a $15,000 branding proposal.

This article is for the designer who is talented and experienced and REALLY good at what they do, but still has that uncomfortable feeling at the idea of charging what the work is actually worth.

So, let’s get into all of it. My process around a $15k number, that feeling that creeps in, what’s included in my workflow, and how I actually prove the value is real.. to myself and then to the client.

The Fear I Don’t Talk About Enough

A lot of us designers do not like to talk about this ‘fear,’ yet I know so many of us feel it. Often wondering if we’re good enough designers to charge more. And it honestly doesn’t matter how long the resume is, because that doubt (and annoying little voice) doesn’t stop to check our credentials on the way in.

It shows up as a few different voices…

The “I’m-not-good-enough” voice:

The one that looks at a finished brand I’m super proud of and impressed by and suddenly hears “Real designers with a design degree would have done it better and faster.” → So I make tweaks.

The “not-enough-value” voice

The one telling me that a client is going to open the final files and think, “wait, that’s it?”, and wonder if they overpaid for the whole thing. → So I add more elements.

The “they-are-better-than-me” voice:

The most annoying one, because I’ll scroll on Instagram for 30 seconds, see another studio’s work, and tell myself why THEY deserve $15k and I don’t. This is coming from the same brain that has hand-drawn intricate crests and monograms for hours and won actual awards. Ugh.

And then the “It’s-$15,000” voice:

The one that's the physical discomfort of saying “fifteen thousand dollars” to another human and then having to sit there and see how they react. 😬 → So I don’t promote or market the offering.

Here’s what took me far too long to understand: None of those voices are actual information.. they’re just noise that gets louder the higher you price. The fear doesn’t mean you’re overcharging. It usually means you’re finally charging correctly, honoring your talent, showing how deeply you care, and tbh.. it means your nervous system just hasn’t caught up yet.

What $15,000 Actually Means

The best way I shut down that doubt is to prove to myself what the client is actually paying for, because it is not just a logo or a set of files (it’s obviously so much more).

When someone says to me, “Whoa, that much for branding?” what they usually mean is they’re picturing a folder of files with a logo and a couple of fonts and some colors, and if that’s the deliverable, then yeah, $15k sounds completely absurd. But that’s not what a premium project is. A premium project is a whole process that takes someone from unsure to unmistakable, and the number reflects the EXPERIENCE, the strategy, and the confusion I’m taking off their plate.

Here’s how I break it down when I need a reminder ;)

A PEEK AT my CUSTOM WORK

It buys strategy, not just style

The most valuable thing I do happens before I start sketching out a logo or pulling inspiration. It’s all the digging. It’s a deep dive into their brand workbook, Pinterest board analysis, and strategy call breakdown. It’s the part where we figure out who they really are, who they’re for, and why anyone should care in the first place. That’s the foundation the entire brand stands on, and it’s the whole difference between “pretty” and “positioned.”

It buys a process that feels easy

At this level, a huge part of what the client is paying for is not feeling any chaos or uncertainty; from that first inquiry to the final handoff, the experience should feel easy and intentional the entire time. Because, after all, I’m the designer (with years of experience) who is guiding them step by step.

For me, that looks like an intro call to make sure we’re a fit, a branded proposal, a contract, a welcome guide, and a little client portal.

It’s a process that sits in phases:

1. The strategy brief 2. The style presentation 3. The Immersive brand presentation. 4. The digital brand guide and strategy PDF.

It also includes defined revision rounds so the project doesn’t go on forever (and luckily, the last 3 brands didn’t even have edits ;), and a proper handoff with every single file format they could possibly need.

It buys my 14 years, not just my hours

This is the reframe that truly changed everything for me, because the client isn’t just buying the hours it takes me to create their brand; they’re buying every single project, every mistake I’ve made, every hand-drawn monogram and rejected mood board that taught me how to get it right the first time around. The reason I can seamlessly move through a project with that kind of confidence is the exact same reason the number is what it is. You’re not paying for the hours, you’re paying for the decade+ that makes it all make sense.

I’ve written before about why I won’t discount my talent, and I meant every word of it. When someone asks me for a lower price, I don’t slash the number, I adjust the scope instead.. fewer deliverables, a tighter package, the same quality of thinking behind all of it. The $15k isn’t some wall I’ve built to keep people out, it’s just a reflection of a full-scope, full-strategy custom project, and if the budget is smaller then the scope gets smaller, but the value per dollar never does.

How I Prove It’s Worth It

Belief is a pretty place to start, but proof is what actually lets me hit send, so here’s how I make the value undeniable ;)

Read more

I believed that for fifteen years.

I believed it while the insurance industry charged me more for being a woman, billed me $26,000 for having a baby, and, to make it even worse, sent me a $3,000 invoice for a miscarriage I was still grieving.

But four months ago, we canceled our health insurance.

Something we have always been told was far too risky. We are a family of four, I run my own business, and I’m the primary income earner. On paper, that decision should terrify me. Instead, it’s honestly the lightest I’ve felt about our health finances in years.

Let me share my whole story, because I have a feeling I’m not the only one who's gone through this :)

A quick note: I’m a designer and a business owner, not a doctor, an insurance agent, or a financial advisor. This is my family’s personal experience, not medical, insurance, or financial advice. CrowdHealth is a cost-sharing community, not insurance, and it isn’t right for everyone. Please read their eligibility terms and talk to a qualified professional before making changes to your own coverage.

Let’s Go Back…

I started paying for my own insurance in college. I was 20 or 21, paying about $150 a month, and I remember opening a letter that said my premium was jumping to almost $500. The reason? I was a woman in my “childbearing years,” so I was labeled a maternal risk.

The irony is that the plan didn’t even cover maternity care. Neither did most plans for people my age back then. Women were routinely charged 50 to 81% more than men the same age for coverage that excluded the exact thing we were being penalized for. [resource here ;) ]

I was about to graduate into one of the worst recessions in modern history, and I was being asked to pay double for a risk the plan wouldn’t even cover. So I did the responsible thing.. I found a plan with a higher deductible and a lower premium. It was the trade-off I was willing to make.

That became the theme for years. Do the responsible thing.. get “punished” for it anyway.

The Obamacare Mess

Then the ACA arrived, and for a minute it helped.. I was excited. I qualified for some subsidies. But the experience was a mess. The website crashed constantly. Every year I had to hand over what felt like my entire life story or my firstborn to re-enroll, then spent hours confirming which doctors were actually in-network before I could even think to head to the clinic. And let me tell you, out-of-network is $$$.

Each year the price went up. And up. And up.

When my husband left his job and I started covering both of us, the numbers stopped making any sense at all. We were two healthy adults who never went to the doctor. Why aren’t we being incentivized for that? Instead, I felt like we were being punished.

Then COVID hit, and the subsidies expanded, which sounded great... until I crossed over the poverty-line threshold. Which meant my subsidy dropped to zero. I was back to paying full price. This is the part my self-employed readers can relate to: you can earn too much to get help and still not earn enough for it to feel affordable.

With my high premiums and deductible, I stopped going to the doctor. I once let a sinus infection go untreated, which led to a double ear infection.. all because I didn’t want the bill. 🫠

One positive: you can use the premiums as a business write-off and contribute to an HSA for additional write-offs. However, I would MUCH rather pay a lower premium, if I’m being honest.

A $26,000 birth and a $3,000 miscarriage

In 2023 I had my first daughter. I planned an unmedicated vaginal birth for a lot of reasons, and I’ll be honest that cost was one of them. I knew every drug and intervention would add to the bill. At the time, we were paying over $1,200 a month in premiums, with deductibles over $10,000 for each of us.

The birth cost around $26,000. We are still paying off our $10,000 share, plus more, because my newborn daughter had her own separate bills.

Then we got pregnant again… but miscarried. On top of the grief, I got a $3,000 bill for my emergency visit. The crazy thing is, that’s considered low cost for what I went through; it could have been much higher if I needed a D&C.

When I miscarried a second time, I didn’t even go in. I stayed home and hoped my body would handle it on its own, and thankfully it did. I’m kind of embarrassed to even admit that, but I have a feeling I’m not the only woman who has made a medical decision around a bill instead of around her health. Which sucks.

Then I started asking harder questions. Would my insurance cover a fertility specialist? No. Additional testing? No. Extra ultrasounds? No. So I stopped asking, and I started going to a family clinic and paying cash, and somehow that was cheaper than using the coverage I was paying a fortune for.

The Switch I Was Scared to Make

When I got pregnant with my rainbow baby, I opted out of going to the hospital and chose a birth center (and paying cash). Part of that was because it fit the redemptive birth I wanted, and part of it was the math. The birth center was $7,000 versus $10,000+ through the hospital.

Here’s the part that makes me wish I'd taken the leap sooner…

My midwife told us about CrowdHealth, but I was too scared to do it. We grew up being told we NEEDED to be covered or doom was coming, and I couldn’t get past that voice for a VERY long time. So we kept paying premiums, kept funding the HSA, and kept paying cash for everything on top of it. Woof.

I could get an ultrasound at a private imaging company for $400, or go through the hospital and pay over $800 after insurance. I kept choosing the cash option, even while paying for insurance I was actively avoiding. It was silly, and I knew it, but we did it anyway for a long time.

Why We Finally Canceled

The tipping point was our newborn, Collins.

After she was born, we could add her to our family insurance plan, which would push us to $1,600 a month. She was one month old and uninsured. Was now the time to make the leap? Cancel our insurance?

I was so tired of cringing every single time we made a payment or had to schedule an appt. So we did it. We canceled our insurance and signed up for CrowdHealth as a family. My midwife had a referral, which made it even easier. And today, after having it for almost 4 months, I’m comfortable sharing my experience and my referral link with you today :)

What We Actually Pay Now

First, the terminology: CrowdHealth is not insurance. It’s a medical cost-sharing community (ie: considered “uninsured” to the healthcare system), which means members fund each other’s bills directly instead of paying a carrier.

Here’s what it looks like on our budget:

We pay a $40 monthly membership fee per person (because I used a referral discount ;), so $160 a month for the four of us. On top of that, there’s a maximum monthly contribution of $420 that goes toward other members’ bills. So the most we would ever pay in a month is around $580. Next month, we will go back to the normal $60 per-person membership fee, so realistically, from that point on, we will max out at $660/mo.

But we rarely hit that max, because the “crowd” doesn’t always need the full contribution. Some months it lands closer to only $410.

Now compare that against $1,600 a month with $10,000 deductibles, and my eyes were completely opened.

Instead of my bills going towards my high deductible, every medical issue is treated as an “event” with CrowdHealth. Any event over $500 gets submitted to the crowd for funding “coverage”.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ;)

What That Looked Like for Us.

To give you an idea, here’s what's happened with us in the last few months.

• My daughter had a dental cleaning package that ran $400 for the year. I used her $300 annual health credit (each of us gets $300 a year toward physicals and preventive care), so we paid $100 out of pocket. yay!

• Her regular checkups at the family clinic are $60 in cash, and we pay cash for extras like vaccines or tests.

• When she had a strange cough, we used the virtual care option. The visit was $150 and was fully reimbursed within about a week. As all virtual care visits are ;)

• I got mastitis and went to urgent care. The visit was $300, and with the uninsured cash discount I paid $117. For comparison, the last time we took my daughter to that same urgent care while insured, it was $330, and we still owed $216 after insurance.

• If my mastitis follow-up appointment puts me over $500, I’ll just submit it as a health event, so we’ll pay the first $500 and anything after will be submitted for crowdfunding.

I also have a possible ultrasound coming up. For something like that, I submit the reason and a cost estimate, and if it’s approved, they send a voucher check to cover it before I go. WHAT!?

One thing I didn’t expect to love: the program actually rewards you for being healthy. You can get discounts for doing additional testing that proves you’re in good health. After fifteen years of a system that only ever charged me more, no matter if I was healthy or not, felt so refreshing ;)

And here’s the regret I mentioned earlier. If I had joined last year.. my birth and prenatal care would have run closer to $3,000 instead of the $7,000 we paid, because postpartum care is eligible too. Members have reported coverage for things like lactation consultants, doulas, and pelvic floor therapy! I legit left so much money on the table out of fear, and THIS is why I wanted to share.

It’s Not for Everyone

I want to be clear that this was a really scary leap for us, but it also made the most sense for my family. Having little kids adds an extra layer, but honestly, the CrowdHealth advocates have been amazing to work with and have put me at ease. Because this post has a referral link, I want to make sure I explain how it works.

This isn't the right move for everyone, since cost-sharing communities don’t always cover autoimmune or pre-existing conditions, and that’s a big deal for a lot of people. If you or your family have ongoing medical needs or are over a certain weight, make sure to read the eligibility terms closely and talk to someone (they make it easy to schedule a call).

I Love Seeing Where My Money Goes.

With insurance, my money disappears into a company whose entire job is to collect more than it pays out. With this, my contribution goes to a real person. In July, $160 went toward a birth in Texas. In August, it was a shoulder surgery in Tennessee. I’m okay with that, because when our turn comes, and eventually it will, someone else’s contribution shows up for us.

They also share monthly funding stats. Here’s an example of July.

We’re heading into our fourth month, and we could not be happier that we finally did it.

One last thing :)

I’m not telling you to cancel your insurance at all.. this is just my experience that I thought is worth sharing. However, I am telling you it's okay to finally question a belief you've spent years slightly avoiding.

For fifteen years I did everything I was told, and it still cost me a birth I’m paying off. And, honestly, I consider myself to be very lucky with just that bill.

Sometimes the responsible thing and the thing we were told to do are not the same thing.

So, as a business owner, a mom, and a woman who will probably be heading right into perimenopause after I’m done nursing. I wanted to share this with you.

P.S. Below is a referral link if you want to use it, which gets you three months of discounted advocacy fees for your family. Just so we’re clear: I may receive a benefit if you sign up. :)

LEARN ABOUT CROWDHEALTH

Petal & Pour is a floral atelier and cafe in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The mission behind it was never just “sell flowers and coffee.” It was more than that.

It’s turning flowers and coffee into intimate daily rituals. Curating, tying, and teaching with care so every guest feels seen, restored, and connected.

So, that was the mission: to make sure the visual identity could actually create that feeling and that memorable experience.

A building with its own story:

The space carries history that predates the cafe. Long before Petal & Pour moved in, the building was also home to a stamp collector, and that detail became part of the brand instead of a forgotten footnote. It shows up in the etched window signage, a nod we called The Stamp Collector, and it carries through in the wax seals, the blind-embossed monogram, and the small postmark details tucked into the stationery.

The Archetype:

Every brand we build starts with a strategic archetype, not just a color palette. Petal & Pour sits at the intersection of two: the Lover, who wants intimacy and sensory richness, and the Creator, who wants to bring ideas into tangible, beautiful form.

In practice, that meant the space had to invite people in emotionally and give them something to actually do. Stems to select. Ribbons to choose. A workshop to try. A latte to sip while a bouquet gets tied just for them.

The goal is for a mother and daughter to walk in on a Sunday morning and say..

“This feels like the kind of place you stumble upon in Europe and never forget.”

If your brand needs to hold something bigger than a product, a feeling, a ritual, a reason people come back every week, this is the kind of project that shows what’s possible when strategy sets the direction before a single color gets chosen.

See the full case study

GET INSPIRED

The idea is that, for anyone working through my Brand Style Workbook and using the Pin tool, the next step is to hone in on your brand color palette.

With the tool, you can submit your:

• Brand workbook PDF

• Your Pinterest board screenshot

• Any other docs or notes you think could help give it direction.

From there, it builds three full palettes for you: Two primaries, an accent, and three neutrals (light, mid, and deep). Each one comes with a name, hex codes, and a note on the mood it’s going for.

Let me show you an example…

I put in my inspiration board for my next semi-custom brand drop to see what palette options it would give me. Now, mind you, I didn’t have any other supporting docs for direction (like my Brand Workbook), but I’m still impressed!

What I love is that it doesn’t just curate three options.. it lets you tweak, too! So if you like Palette #2 but you’re drawn to the green in Palette #3, you tell it. If Palette #1 is close, but you want softer variations for #2 and #3, you can tell it that too, and it will rework them completely.

You can even select a color and change it manually. If so, you’ll have the option to run it through “me” to make sure it passes the formula check.

Then comes my favorite part. It tells you which one IT would choose, and why

More often than not, that’s the one I land on anyway.. how cool!

A couple of things I didn’t expect to love

• It will check your color contrast, so your palette isn’t just pretty, it actually holds up when it’s real text on a real background.

• It hands you a set of Pinterest search terms to sharpen your board even more (or use to search for stock images :).

A quick word on how to actually use the colors

Getting the palette is one thing, but knowing what each color is for is the part people get stuck on. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Primary 1 is your hero. The color people start to associate with you.

• Primary 2 supports it, so your brand has a bit of range.

• Accent is your emphasis color. Use it sparingly, for buttons, links, the one thing you want the eye to catch.

• Neutral light is your breathing room. Backgrounds, white space, etc.

• Neutral mid is for borders, line sections, subtle structure.

• Neutral deep is your anchor. Usually your text, and the color that grounds everything else.

A palette is all about its hierarchy, and the hierarchy is what makes it read as intentional instead of just ‘pulled together’.

Where this fits in the bigger picture

You can’t just start with this tool.. here’s the flow I’d actually recommend:

1. Start with the Brand Style Workbook. It’s the foundation, and every tool works better once you’ve done this thinking first.

   GET THE WORKBOOK

2. Use the Pinterest Inspiration tool to find your visual direction.

3. Run Palette Studio to lock your colors.

4. When you’re ready to bring it to life, work with a designer. That’s either one of my semi-custom brands, or an hourly consult with me.

And the honest bit, since I’m always upfront about this. The tool gives you a strong starting point. It does not replace a designer’s eye. It gets you most of the way there in minutes, and that last stretch (the judgment calls, the “this is technically fine but it isn’t YOU”) is still the human part. That’s the part I love, and it isn’t going anywhere.

Before you dive in, two quick notes

• Give it a few minutes. It takes about 3 to 5 minutes to curate your palettes, so fill everything out, hit go, and let it do its thing. It’s thinking, not frozen.

• It saves your work. As long as you return to the same browser, your palette will be waiting for you.

Ready to play with it?!

This is still very much a work in progress. I’m refining how it reads your files and tightening the recommendations, so expect a few rough edges. But I didn’t want to sit on it while I keep tinkering..

Your passcode is on the button below {for paid subscribers}. Just enter the code and you’re in!

I hope you take it for a spin and get a good direction on where to take your brand color palette!

Being a designer myself, I like to look at various things for inspiration beyond just Pinterest. I’ll look at editorial layouts, packaging inspiration, marketing campaigns, a film’s title sequence, signage... and then, of course, websites dedicated to actual website inspiration.

That said, I keep a short list of places I return to and thought I’d share them with you along with a few designs I recently saved!

Mersi Architecture

This one immediately caught my eye with the embossed effects and texture, but then instantly pulled me in further with the fun {very seamless} transitions. I always will love a site that feels almost tactile, so this one was worth sharing.

VISIT

Adcker

This one gives me vibes of my Swan Showit Template, but more modern. That said, I love the bold text, the movement, and the center alignment of each element. It feels easy to scroll through and well-balanced.

VISIT

Palmer

I love how clean and modern this feels (and interactive)! It feels like you are shopping at a store and picking up a product to look at more closely. Not only that, I especially notice the left locking of the product description section and how the product title stays behind the actual images.

This is a great one to browse through for inspiration beyond just the homepage.

PEEK!

Emele Collab

I mostly just saved this one because I like the hover effects. From the blurred text to the image that appears on the bottom right. Clean, simple, impactful.

VISIT

Paris by Emily

Overall, this site is kind of busy and almost too interactive for me; however, I did like the banners scrolling and the hover effects on the section below. I think there are a lot of sections on the site that can be used for inspiration (but maybe not all together ;)

PEEK

Friends of the New

I’m inspired by a few things on this site. I love the simplicity of the homepage that showcases the portfolio, the bottom locked title which changes on hover, and the dot grid background (you’ll see each element is aligned with the dots).

VISIT

Social Impact Capitol

I love an illustrative-inspired website, especially when it’s in a whole different industry like this one. They chose a blue that stands out (yet still fits the industry), used seamless transitions that feel immersive, and incorporated the illustration perfectly throughout the site.

VISIT

Artworld Agency

This one, like Friends of the New, is straight to the point with a portfolio homepage and bottom title. However, I love the serif font mixed with the italicized version and the creative hover effects for each piece. I’m also taking note of that bold footer ;)

PEEK!

Foundation Health Therapy

I had to throw this one in that I created for a client :) I’m obsessed with the textured background and letterpress effect, the modern text layout, the subtle line movement, and the movement of the images. It was fun to create!

PEEK!

Sourcing Website Inspiration

In case you wanted to peek around for your own website inspiration, I thought I would drop a few sites I start with.

1. Typewolf: This was one I used a lot for inspo, but it looks like they haven’t updated it in a while :(

2. Awwwards: Love this one, and find a ton of great sites on here.

3. Recent.Design: I’ll peek on this site from time to time.

4. MaxiBestOf: This is great for both websites and fonts :)

5. SitesofSites: These are very creative websites, which is fun!

Sourcing on Pinterest or Cosmos?

There are plenty of well-saved websites on both Pinterest and Cosmos, but you might need the right search terms to find them…

Use these search terms:

• editorial portfolio website design

• minimal photographer website layout

• one page website scroll design

• interior designer website neutral

• type-led homepage design

• creative agency website dark mode

• warm typographic website

• brutalist agency website

• motion website design

• [COLOR] website (more for Cosmos).

You can always add the layout ‘word’ to the search too: (grid, full-bleed, sticky nav, split screen) or a niche (wedding photographer, ceramicist, coach) so you're seeing sites created for actual businesses in an industry.

I’ve been thinking about ways to add more value to my Paid Subscribers, and this idea was one of them.. going Live while I design ☺️. I used to do this in story format on Instagram a while back ago and it received so much good feedback!

And, since the goal of The Avenue Edit is to get a glimpse into my life, my creativity, my process, and all the things I’ve learned over the last 15 years, naturally, I wondered if this is something worth sharing.

I do have some other ideas as well (like offering brand or Pinterest board reviews), but I thought a Live of my design process could be a fun way to start.

With that, any questions I could answer for you?

Just to add a bit more value, feel free to message me HERE or comment below with any questions you might have about branding, design, fonts, colors, etc. I might compile them to answer during the Live or add them to the post after :)

Thank you so much!

And I get it, you open Pinterest to find your brand style, and 45 minutes later you’ve pinned a pattern-filled Palm Beach room, a Ralph Lauren 90s Ad, and four fonts that have NOTHING in common (trust me, it happens more than you know ;)

So, I built something to fix it. A visual quiz that shows you image sets and asks which one you’re drawn to. The goal is to choose instinctively based on visuals. At the end, it hands you a style ‘Brief’ AND copy-paste Pinterest search terms, so you finally know what to look for.

P.S. My paid subscribers get exclusive access today ;)

Why I created it

If you read my Red Flags post, you might remember the Pinterest board with hundreds of pins pulling in every direction. That project taught me a lesson I never forgot.. when inspiration is scattered, the whole project is doomed from the start.

I typically ask my clients to pin 30 to 50 images (using my framework from THIS) for their homework. This sounds simple, but for so many of them, that homework was the hardest part of the entire project. Not because they don’t have style.. they absolutely do. It’s because nobody ever taught them how to see and SEARCH for their style. They pin what’s trending, what their competitors use, what they think they’re supposed to like, or what their Pinterest algo is giving them.

So instead of writing another how-to guide or making a Loom video, I built a tool that does the “seeing” for them.

Take a Peek:

I wanted to be intentional with the visuals. To feel distinct from each other, but not offer too many options (that’s key). Each selection starts picking up on a pattern, a pattern you might not otherwise notice. Take a peek at a few of the fun “questions”.

Now for a real example…

Below is just a small look at my client's brief and her Pinterest board afterward. I’m currently taking this and transforming a semi-custom brand for her! I’ll add it to this post once she approves ;)

The part I didn’t expect: It raised my prices.

Here’s the business lesson hiding in this tool.

This tool started as a fix for MY process. Clients can now confidently complete their homework with more clarity and less chaos, which means they don’t sit on Pinterest questioning everything. Instead, they feel more excited and motivated to keep pinning and submit their homework (so, a quicker turnaround to book their start date ;)

And that let me raise my package pricing. Not because I added more deliverables, but because the process became more valuable. A smoother experience with a better outcome IS the product.

So, if you’re a designer reading this, look at the messiest step in your client process. The step everyone seems to struggle through. Fixing that step isn’t just nice for your clients.. it’s a pricing decision.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ;)

Try it out, friend ;)

Go take the quiz, even if you think you already know your style (especially then, honestly). See if it aligns with your current brand, style, and direction.

P.S. If your quiz results make you realize your current brand doesn’t match your actual style..

That’s exactly why my semi-custom brands were created. Your style brief becomes your project homework, so you’d actually be walking in with the hardest part already done.

Give it a whirl ;)👇

_{P.S. This tool is proprietary to Saffron Avenue and is for personal use only.}

I.C.Y.M.I - Check Out These…

Within the next couple of years in High School, I planned two of my friends' baby showers. I guess it was a popular time to have babies in a small rural town..

But that thrust me into the love of design.

Fast forward a few years: Although I knew I wanted to be a wedding planner, we were all constantly told: “to get a job and be successful, you need a Bachelor’s degree” 🫠 So, I did just that.. but I also told a white lie along the way.

In my junior year of college, I literally flipped through the Yellow Pages (yes, I’m that old) to see what wedding planners were in my not-very-big city. This was well before social media days, so we didn’t really have much info/research on companies. However, one caught my eye with their ad. It had gorgeously drawn florals in a pedestal urn, and I decided to give them a call.

“Hi, I’m Angela, a student at UW-L. I have a class that requires job shadowing or internship options. I saw your gorgeous ad and thought this could be a great opportunity because I have a special love for design and parties.”

And there was the lie.

I didn’t have a class that required that, but I wanted in and was willing to do anything.

We did a phone interview; I explained my shower planning experience and that I’m a really hard worker. Little did she know, I was currently working afternoon shifts at Hollister and night shifts bartending.. but, I’d figure that out later.

She told me: I haven’t done internships before {trusting someone with no experience}, and it wouldn’t be a paid position, but I’ll think about it.

I didn’t hear back for a few weeks, but I did write her a really kind thank-you card. And, to be honest, it might have landed in her mailbox at the perfect time. Because on a Friday night, the night before one of her biggest weddings, she called me and asked if I could help her out the next day.

Yes ma’am.

She picked me up at 6am and told me to wear comfy shoes and pack a black outfit. And during that long day, I showed her exactly why she needed me. We worked until 2 or 3 a.m., and I loved every minute of it.

I proved myself; she actually ended up hiring me for weekend assistance, which turned into much more as the months went on ;)

Let’s bring it back to design.

During that time, I decided to teach myself the Adobe Suite. She had one of those thick, step-by-step Adobe how-to books that I kept under my desk in the office. I would literally sneak into her office on Sundays and Mondays, sit down at my desk, and start trying to replicate invitation designs I admired (like Wiley Valentine). Not to copy them {I never used any of it}, but because reverse-engineering was the only method I had since that Adobe bible was too intense.

I’d find something I liked and try to rebuild it layer by layer. Zooming into the spacing, understanding effects, playing with masking, and learning to vectorize. These are the micro details that most people might skip right past. I didn’t have someone walking me through it in a classroom; instead, I had to look so carefully and analyze other people’s work just to understand what I was even seeing. And re-doing it over and over again.

Then, one day, I designed a birthday card for my boss and put it on her desk for her to find on the following Monday.

She asked, “Where did you get this?” and I confessed to her that I’ve been sneaking into the office for the last few months learning InDesign and Illustrator.

That was the very moment she realized I had more to offer. I was then put in charge of helping to design clients’ invitations, putting together design presentations, styling display tables, and soon being trusted to lead and design my very first wedding.

The trajectory…

In 2009, I had just graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Communication. I was working random weekends with the wedding planner and full-time as an Office Manager at a live sound company. Of course, to get my creative “hit,” I would covertly open up Microsoft Word during work and assemble mood boards for my new blog, Witty and in Love. Here’s one of my first posts ;)

By 2011, I decided to quit those jobs, pack up my crappy Hyundai, and move 1/2 way across the country to Wilmington, NC, all in hopes of pursuing my dream career as a planner.

I found a roommate on Craigslist and had 3 months’ worth of savings to figure my shit out and find a job. Good thing ignorance is bliss, because I just entered one of the worst job markets, post-housing-market-collapse. But I hustled and landed a job at a Cakery, then a small part-time position on a law firm's marketing team.

Bonus: my roommate was also amazing and so supportive (love you, Elise)!

I spent my days working those 2 jobs. At one, I’d be designing cakes and managing the books; the other would be doing odd design jobs for their firm's clients or taking the inquiry calls (boring). I’d get home from them, make a late dinner, and be up until 2-3 a.m. creating blog posts, patterns for my Etsy shop, and teaching myself code and calligraphy.

I constantly looked into online courses to better my skills, but the world wasn’t what it is now, and what little did exist was priced for people who weren’t fresh out of college during one of the worst economic periods.

So, instead, I figured it out slowly, repeatedly, and sometimes by starting completely over (and over again).

Enter: Saffron Avenue

I started to establish myself as a real designer. I was selling digital patterns on Etsy, calling cards that could be customized, and my very first logo and blog code project. I even started a side company with my co-worker at the law firm, called Mint 102, and we were one of the first to market wedding branding ;).

With that, I felt like I was finally at a point where the years spent teaching myself could actually be profitable.

So, in early 2012, I relaunched as Saffron Avenue, and then in 2013, I finally decided to go all in :) I’ve since designed HUNDREDS of brands and websites, worked with a pro-NBA player (and his wife), a former Miss USA, and, more recently, created custom lettering work for LoveShackFancy.

The confidence problem…

When I started taking on clients, I was competing against studios staffed with designers who had actual degrees. Art programs, design theory courses, strategy lessons, etc. A foundation I didn’t have on paper.

That feeling followed me for a long time, unfortunately. I would go in ‘blind’ with every new design endeavor.

I undercharged. I over-explained my process. I second-guessed calls I already knew were right. I would get clients who took advantage of me.

Imposter syndrome wasn’t just chilling in the back of my head those early years.. it was loud, and it probably cost me. Not just money, but the time I spent talking myself out of my own capabilities and the clients I deserved.

I’m now fifteen years in, running a studio with a client list I’m genuinely proud of and a real talent I was born with.. but it still shows up. There are still moments when I wonder whether anyone will notice that I never took a design class and that I learned kerning from analysis and repetition, not a professor.

I don’t think that feeling ever completely goes away. I still feel weirdly guilty every time I send an invoice, if I'm being honest. But I’ve learned to work alongside it instead of letting it make decisions for me.

Plus, my husband’s encouragement always helps ;)

What the hard way actually taught me

Here’s what I didn’t expect: the long road is its own education.

When you can’t look something up in a textbook or ask a teacher to walk you through it, you develop a different level of attention. You have to be completely focused on one small thing before you can move to the next. Then you do it again and again until it sticks, because no one is handing you a study guide or showing you a shortcut.

Sometimes you forget how you did it, so you have to spend the next 3 hours trying to do it all over again. If only screen recording were a thing back then!

That process built something for me, though: A patience with detail that I don’t think I would have developed any other way. And an eye that learned to slow down and actually look, because looking carefully was the only tool I had.

I also graduated with a four-year degree in something unrelated to design, and that mattered more than I gave it credit for at the time. I knew how to research. I understood deadlines, time management, and accountability. I could sit with a problem and work through it methodically. Those things transferred directly into running a studio, even if they had nothing to do with color theory ;)

What I didn’t have was a shortcut. Everything took much longer. Some things I still do differently from the “textbook” way.. not because I’m doing them wrong, but because I learned them through trial and obsessive observation rather than instruction.

What I wish I had learned in a classroom...

The clearest example is my early client process (or the lack of one). I didn’t have the right discovery questions, so I’d jump straight into design without a real strategic foundation. I’d present six logo concepts at once, hoping something would stick. What I was actually doing was designing in the dark and handing that uncertainty directly to my clients.

Six options sounded generous because I was trying to prove myself. But what it actually produced was analysis paralysis. Clients would like the mark from one, the style from another, the color direction from a third, and suddenly I was in a revision spiral I had no framework for handling.

I also had to learn the entire business side from scratch: what questions to ask before a project starts, how to run a discovery call, what belongs in a proposal and why an expiration date matters, when to collect a deposit, what a solid contract actually protects. Needless to say, none of that came with that Adobe book.

Every one of those lessons came from something going sideways first. And that process, learning what to do by living through what not to do, is essentially how I’ve built my business. Clarity before creativity, and strategy before a single concept gets designed. I didn’t read that in a textbook. I figured it out the hard way, with real clients and real consequences. Translation: A lot of scope creep, revisions, and missing those red flags.

The pros and cons, IMO

What self-taught cost me:

• Years of undervaluing my work while I waited to feel “qualified”

• Starting slower than I needed to because I had no roadmap

• Loss of time and money with trial and error

• A confidence problem that still shows up here and there

What self-taught gave me:

• An eye for detail that developed because I had no other option

• Patience as a genuine skill and dealing with a level of frustration I couldn’t even try to explain 😅

• The ability to analyze design at a level that going fast would have skipped

• Originality that came from not being taught what was “correct”

• Fifteen years of proof that it works, my friends

The pace thing

I used to think about how much further along I’d be with more resources. Better tools, earlier access, formal training, building teams, etc. It was easy for me to spiral into those thoughts.

But I don’t believe that anymore.

I moved at the pace I was capable of at each stage to build Saffron Avenue. That pace forced me to absorb what I was learning rather than move through it quickly.. allowing me to truly understand a level of detail that matters. I believe there’s a real difference between knowing something and having lived it slowly enough that it becomes part of how you think.

If you’re self-taught and still figuring it out, I’m not going to tell you the confidence piece resolves itself overnight. It doesn’t. But the dedication, patience, repetition, and originality you develop when no one hands you the answers… that’s not a lesser version of a design education. It’s just a different one.

Clients don’t ask how you learned; they ask what you can do.

And I can safely say after fifteen years in, I have a pretty good answer :)

🌿 Life

Lately

This Friday, July 3rd, my baby turns 12 weeks old, AND my firstborn turns 3 (her golden birthday!). I cannot get over having a baby who looks so much like my first born.. who is now somehow a whole walking, talking, opinionated person. Time is truly a thief.

And let me tell you, she is FULLY in threenager territory. My sweet, gentle, calm and smiley little girl now comes with a side of sass, some defiance, and emotions that will smack you in the face. But, from time to time, I get those sweet glimmers.. catching her feeding her baby doll, bursting with pride after cleaning up her toys, and calling for me to snuggle with her. It’s whiplash, but she’s still just as fun and social as she’s always been, so I’ll take the trade.

*P.S. Here’s a little peek at her birthday party inspo :)

On the home front, my husband was BUSY this spring with landscaping. We finally got the faux stone siding done (less glamorous reason: we needed better grading around the house due to rain issues), and it looks so good! Shout-out to our handyman, Justin, who is pretty much part of the family with how much he’s been around (he did our gorgeous fireplace tile).

And now, with finishing up the siding, I finally got my hydrangeas, boxwoods, and dwarf lilac tree in the ground. In just 3-4 short years, it’s going to be so beautiful! And hopefully the lilac tree will look less awkward ;)

My mini-hydrangeas are also looking cute this year too!

🤖 A Bit of AI

• ICYMI, I built a Naming Tool on Claude Code (this is my second stab at it, and it’s SO fun). The purpose is to help you flush out some name ideas for your business (or Substack).. and paid subscribers get access to play with it HERE!

• And have you seen Midjourney’s Star Trek-coded medical update? The platform most known for generative AI images is apparently building an alternative to MRIs. It’s wild, and a little futuristic.. but kinda cool.

👀 Behind the Biz

I added a new tool for my branding clients’ homework: a “Pin with Purpose” quiz (also built on Claude Code). I noticed more and more my clients telling me “I have no idea how to find inspiration I like.” It was a pain point in the process that I knew I needed to fix..and that tool does that.

The quiz lets clients visually choose between images, almost like “I like this, not that,” because sometimes our instincts respond to visuals faster than words ever could. From there, it generates a style brief they can use to complete their homework AND to search Pinterest with ready-made copy/paste search terms. P.S. if you are part of the Saffron chat and a paid subscriber, you get access (just message me)!

🎨 Recent Creative Work

I have to share a recent semi-custom brand for a photography client. He wanted something warm, a little Ralph Lauren, with a touch of countryside, and he wanted to incorporate his family crest. I pulled the wheat and the greyhound straight from the crest, but softened the shapes and the monogram so it felt less formal and more lived-in. Gorgeous, right!?

And one more thing: one of my favorite long-term clients, Amber from Vie, hired me again for ANOTHER one of her businesses, Foundation Health Therapy. We did a semi-custom brand starter package plus a template customization, and I even got to play with some generative AI mockups for her. I’m obsessed.

📝 New & Noted

Have you noticed all the updates rolling out on Substack lately? New fonts, new layout options, color highlighting. Not going to lie, it’s starting to give me MySpace energy (and I love it). I need to go back and update some of my most popular posts now that we have so many more ways to customize!

I also have a small win to share: I hit 50 paid subscribers this week and landed at #24 Rising in Design. 🙌 I genuinely love having this creative outlet, and I appreciate every single one of you who reads, replies, or shares this with someone else.

So tell me… as a paid sub, what’s most valuable for you to see from me?

📆 The Edit

Following: If you’re not already following Margot Leveque, go fix that ;) She shares some of the best inspiration in her Notes.

Saving: If you’re into AI, you need to be following Tayla Burrell. She shares genuinely great ideas for how to actually use Claude in your business.

Trending: I know it’s the dead of Summer, but I can’t help but see a few signals that “Sky Slope Fashion” aesthetic is trending.

Inspo: I’ve really been loving the analog comeback (we Millennials miss it, what can I say). IKEA just shared their 1996 catalog as a kind of time capsule, and the primary colors, mixed patterns, and shabby chic? So nostalgic. You can browse their full catalog archive here too.

I remember ordering these catalogs in high school and waiting (not so patiently) for one to show up at my door. When it did, I’d grab a snack, curl up somewhere cozy, and devour every page. IKEA has always told a story through its roomsets. One page felt as if you could hear the New York City streets in a modern urban loft, the next felt like countryside wind through the windows of a cottage. By the time I visited my first actual IKEA in college, I was obsessed with all of it.

I feel the same way about my semi-custom brands. Each one should feel like a different place, a different time, a different feeling entirely.

❝ Quote to Save ❞

While on maternity leave, I fully believed my husband and I were going to resubscribe to Netflix and finally catch up on everything we’d missed out on over the last few years. But.. baby girl had other plans (gut issues, reflux, naps that lasted approximately 25-30 minutes). However, we almost made it through both seasons of Paradise!

There was a moment in the show where X recalled something his father once told him..

A few days after hearing that, I actually experienced it.

It was a Wednesday afternoon. I was rocking on the porch with the weight of Collins asleep in my arms as I watched Charli bounce around the yard, pointing out all of her favorite flowers, the dandelion, in her sweet little voice. I could feel the subtle warmth of the cloud-dappled sun on my face. It was that kind of light you only get before a storm.. somewhat softened and almost luminous, making the grass, trees, and sky look richer and more vibrant. The lilacs were still in bloom, and as the wind picked up ever so slightly, I’d get little doses of that faint floral scent. In the distance, thunder started to rumble as the storm slowly rolled in.

It truly felt hi-def.. in a way I can’t fully explain. Every sense was at full volume, and I won’t ever forget that moment.

🤖 AI Prompt

This past month I started pinning that nostalgic Americana vibe, partly inspired by the upcoming 250th anniversary..but also for a future semi-custom brand I want to create.

Try this prompt to start your own moodboard around a moment or theme: 👇

Read more

In the last 15 years of Saffron Ave, the question I get asked A LOT has nothing to do with color or logos. It’s “I can’t figure out what to call this.” Sometimes it’s a brand new business, a Substack ;), a digital shop, a course, or just another side-thing.

And, as I said, naming is hard for me too.. so I get it.

I can look at a brand and tell you in about five seconds why a typeface is wrong for the logo or why a palette feels off. That part is instinctual for me, but words are a different story. Coming up with an actual name has never been my strong suit, even though clients tend to assume it should be :(

So why not do something about it? I built a tool to help my clients name things, and as a paid subscriber, you will also get access to it!

How the Naming Tool Works

*My goal for this tool is to help you start thinking out loud and get the ball rolling.. to get you inspired!*

It opens with a conversation and walks you through a handful of questions one by one. IE: “what does your business do” and “what’s your origin story”. It digs for the things that actually make good names: the story underneath, a childhood memory, an object you love, the one thing you do differently that nobody else does.

That part is more important than people might think because the best names almost never come from describing what you sell.. they come from something personal you would never think to put on a website.

From there, it will do some extra work:

1. Generates eight name directions, each one tied back to something you referenced or said

2. Lets you pick your two or three favorites to compare side by side

3. Pressure-tests each one: how it sounds, how it feels in a logo, whether it boxes you in as you grow, and a lil ‘gut check’.

4. Checks domain and social handle availability so you don’t fall in love with a name that’s already gone

5. BONUS: It gives you tagline options and a few content directions for each name (which is a great starting point to build off of on your own).

Then, once you land on the one, you’ll get…

1. A way to say what you do out loud (ex: the sentence you give someone at a party, not a tagline).

2. A starting visual direction with colors, type pairings, and a few words you can hand to a designer or drop straight into Canva

3. An honest read on whether your niche is too narrow, too broad, or right where it should be

Why This is Different Than a Generator

A generator hands you A TON of names and zero personal reasons. So, you actually end up more overwhelmed than when you started. Analysis Paralysis.

This tool will teach you to think about a name the way a designer or even a copywriter would. Even if you don’t use a single name it suggests, you’ll at least walk away seeing your own ideas more clearly (hopefully ;).

Before you Start

One quick note: this tool runs on Claude, so you’ll need to be signed into a Claude account to use it (a free plan is fine).

WHAT I RECOMMENDED: Give yourself at least 10-16 minutes to answer the questions honestly. The more detailed and intentional the answers are, the better names you'll get that you’ll connect with.

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There are only bits and pieces of those moments I can recall, but I do know he was my safe space for years to come. I remember the weekend work trips he had to make and the nights I’d just wait and watch out my window to see him pull in, knowing he’d come give me a kiss goodnight.

He was the dad who never missed a hug, that kiss goodnight, or an “I Love You,” and he always hid the sweetest little notes in our lunchboxes and overnight bags. {SO ADORABLE.}

I’ve always looked up to him. I was “daddy’s little girl” and wanted to spend all my time with him. Which meant snuggling next to him in his recliner to watch TV, fake tummy pain so I could lie in bed with him, sitting on his lap while he mowed, and being his shadow when it came to doing anything ;)

When I was in second grade, we had to move across the state for his job. We saw him make a decision that I can only imagine was so very difficult… moving his two girls away from their mother.

But, looking back on that moment, I know he had to do what was best for my sister and me, and I am so grateful for that.

A few years later, his position got cut, and times got a little tougher. He never had that extra financial support (spousal/child), but my sister and I didn’t really see or feel it. Yeah, we had hand-me-downs from my cousin and didn’t get to shop at JCPenney like our friends (shout-out to Farm & Fleet outfits :). But we were clothed, fed, and so very, very loved.

Then, not long after, he decided to join his best friend and enter the world of entrepreneurship by starting a construction company.

We watched him work extra hard to provide for us. Which might have meant missing some sports games or band concerts, but when we’d get home, he would make us a family dinner, ask how our day went, and kiss us goodnight.

That always meant more.

What He Taught Me About Life…

We saw him consistently make hard decisions. Decisions that were pretty life-changing and based on what was best for his two girls. Of course, I can’t say it was easy growing up without our mom around, but looking back, he shielded us from a lot. Things I now believe were done to preserve our relationship and the memories we’d have with her.

Sometimes the hard decisions are so unbelievably hard at the time, but if you actually look back, they are the most crucial parts of your life. They set a trajectory for you.

I say this, knowing how different life could have looked if he hadn’t made those hard decisions for us.

We still witnessed things we shouldn’t have, and did grow up without her around much, but I’ll be the first to say, looking back and about to raise two daughters myself — I’d do exactly what he did.

Sometimes the hardest decisions end up being the most crucial parts of your story.

What He Taught Me About Business

As I said above, he started a business from the ground up, in a new city, while raising two girls with no other financial support. Because he was determined to create a better life for us.

Bonus, we also got to live in a couple of houses he built. It was SO fun to not only watch and see his excitement, showing us the plans, the buildout, watching him work — but also getting some cool new bedrooms in the process ;)

Some years were good, some were slow. Yet he never gave up.

There was this moment during one of our many chats (which, I feel like I talked his ear off sometimes) when he told me:

That is one thing that has replayed in my mind over and over again throughout the years. And he was right.

I had those moments, especially in college and early in my career, when I would have to remind myself of that.

• The day my card was declined while I was buying groceries was when I started donating plasma and looking for a second job.

• The day I got my CT scan bill was the day I learned to speak up for myself and figured out how to get it lowered.

• The day my car failed was the day I had to find ways to get to work and search for a new car I could afford. That meant borrowing friends’ vehicles, taking the bus, and, unfortunately, buying a crappy used Hyundai on my own.

• The day I wanted to buy the new Adobe design programs was the day I started teaching myself calligraphy, so I could add it to my services to pay it off.

That led me to the day I quit my job and moved halfway across the country to North Carolina. With the goal of becoming a wedding planner, I packed just my car, had no job lined up, and had a random roommate I found on Craigslist waiting for me.

I knew I could do it because I’d find a way..just like I was taught. I’ll save the rest of that story for another time, but thank goodness ignorance played a huge role in that one because little did I know we were still coming off the huge financial crash of 2009, and the job market was rough ;)

I always figured it out on my own. Because he taught me that.

My dad gave me the responsibility and independence to make my own decisions and handle my own mistakes. And that is crucial as a business owner.

You have to take responsibility for everything when you run a business. You can’t lean on your boss, manager, or supervisor to help you out. You have you, and you have to constantly make decisions on what will help you survive.

So yeah, I got to watch my dad do all of that. He didn’t depend on others to make a better life. He did it himself.

What He Taught Me About Parenting

As I said above, he was an amazing dad, and I always knew how lucky we were to have him. However, once I had my daughter, a whole new level of gratitude and understanding washed over me. I understood so much more of why he did what he did. The decisions he made. The love he showed.

Gifts and trips were never a form of love for us. We didn’t get yearly vacations when we were little (although I did love our Noah’s Ark trips), and we didn’t get a ton of gifts for holidays.

But you know what we did get? Time together. Maybe it’s because he didn’t have a choice, but we’d go to the hunting cabin with him, to his work sites, trips to Farm and Fleet or Menards, building forts in the woods, weekend chores, and dinner always together.

As a parent who will now also be raising two daughters, I’m taking so much of his parenting style into my own.

Here’s what I actually believe, having watched how he did it:

• I don’t believe kids need all the activities outside the home (random kid events, seasonal activities, daily park or library visits, weekend trips, various extracurriculars, etc.).

• I don’t believe they need big gifts for every single holiday. Less sometimes is more.

• I don’t believe you are a bad parent if you miss a few sporting games or events.

• I don’t believe kids need big birthday celebrations every year, as long as we are together as a family celebrating.

• I don’t believe parents need to provide constant entertainment for their kids.

I’m going into this whole parenthood thing believing that kids simply just need some one-on-one time with you each day and then time on their own to use their imagination.

My husband and I value our home life and plan to raise our girls playing outside as much as possible. Whether that’s using their imagination, building forts, playing catch with their dad, painting on the patio with me, or reading a book down by the creek.

{p.s. I love seeing him with my daughters.. I bet it feels bittersweet for him}

That all feels so much more valuable than anything else.. and that’s exactly what we had growing up.

My dad might have missed some games, concerts, and meals, but that didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that I had a parent who was emotionally there for me. To sit on my bed and just chat, to include me in everything he did (even if that meant tricking me into pulling weeds), to call me out of the blue, and to literally hug and say “I Love You” every single day.

The best part: I am lucky enough to watch my own husband do the same with our daughters now. It brings up a feeling I don’t think I could ever fully put into words ❤️

So, Dad, I know you’ll read this because you were one of my first paid subscribers (of course ;) I could go on and on about all the things I’m so grateful for, but more than anything, thank you :)

I know I write my gratitude in every Father’s Day and birthday card to you, but this letter shows you even more how deeply you have shaped my life.

I couldn’t be more grateful. I love you :)

I personally have yet to purchase a perfume online for this reason. I’ve come close, but it’s hard when you can’t smell it.

That means that everything that happens before (the bottle, the packaging, the photography, the name, the story) has to fully persuade you. That’s why fragrance is one of the best categories to dive into if you want to understand how strong brand identity can make a difference. These brands aren’t just pretty. They make very intentional choices about what to show and who they’re talking to.

Diptyque: A Flexible (illustration-focused) Brand

The STRATEGY: A Classic mark with creative collections.

BEHIND the BRAND: Founded in 1961 by three artists, a painter Desmond Knox-Leet, an interior designer Christiane Gautrot, and a theater set designer Yves Coueslant. The signature black-and-white labels were designed and hand-drawn by Knox-Leet.

I fully believe that once you’ve seen Diptyque’s labels, you’ll recognize them forever. The oval, the black staggered serif type, and the illustrated label. That really hasn’t changed much since the brand launched in Paris in 1961.. and that’s a big deal.

The reason I chose Diptyque isn’t just for the logo but for what they do around it. The oval label becomes a creative canvas for Seasonal collections with textural effects, illustration style, and color, while the core oval and border remain. They really are the most recognizable brand with an oval mark.

One collection leans into citrus and florals, another goes graphic and bold, and another uses a muted, antique palette. The brand feels timeless and “trendy” at the same time, which is actually hard to pull off without looking inconsistent or losing brand trust.

TAKE a LOOK: Just peek at their Pinterest account. You’ll see the variety of collections and styling directions that they’ve done. From different colors, seasons, and materials.

The LESSON: This is a great example of an established brand with a strong foundation VS a brand built with just aesthetics in mind. When you have a solid identity (like a mark or a set font stack), you can play everywhere else. You can experiment with color, bring in different illustrations, launch limited editions, play off the season, etc.

Some brands do this backward.. they build it off of aesthetics (like a trending color palette and vibe) without ever establishing that “anchor” that makes it all feel intentional. Diptyque’s oval shape, the staggered type, and its art-focused approach give it permission to be playful.

Your TAKEAWAY: Before you can evolve your brand, you need to know which element never changes. Is the color palette or pattern consistent, is it the layout, the fonts, etc.

My SUGGESTION: Write down the one element of your brand that never changes. If you can't name it quickly, that's your first problem to solve :)

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But, here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter how good your content is if a new reader lands on your account and can’t immediately tell who you are, what you’re about, or whether it’s worth their inbox space {and time}.

You have about 10 seconds to answer those questions before someone peaces out. Actually, it’s probably less than that 🫠

So, I thought I would share 3 things you could do this week to personalize your Substack to help your readers fall in love with you :)

N.01 - Your About Page

I’m sure you’ve seen others talk about this, but your About page is more important than you think. I’ve looked at tons of them over the last year, and they fall into a few categories:

1. Completely “blank” (still using that default placeholder text).

2. Somewhat filled out, but no real goal.

3. Actually personalized with intention and great CTA’s.

An About page isn’t just a bio or a “resume”. It’s a pitch to some stranger who found you and is deciding whether to hand over their email address and hit that little follow button.

I recommend including these 3 things:

1. Open with a hook, not just an introduction: Take a peek at Helena Di Biase’s Really Rich about page. She doesn’t start with her credentials or her background. Instead, she opens by naming the “trap” her reader is already in: A business that makes money but needs you in it constantly. She’s describing her reader’s life before she even starts to talk about herself.

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Join chat

How to Join

1. Get the Substack app by clicking this link. New chat threads won’t be sent via email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversations as they happen :) You can also access chat on the web.

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like a chat bubble in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi! Hopefully, I did it all correctly!

Hope to see ya in there!

You can start with Charli’s birth here: 26+ hours of constant back labor, broken jacuzzi jets, the water birth that never happened, 3+ hours of pushing.. and the first words out of my mouth “I’m never f*$king doing that again.”

Then it was my first loss. A moment that shook me to my core and added me to the 1 in 4 club that no woman wants to be a part of.

Then it was the months leading to our rainbow: hormone testing, a huge lifestyle change, a fear that sat in my chest for 9 months, the vanishing twin, and the tears at every single appointment because of pure gratitude.

So, when I tell you this birth story is a redemptive one, I feel that in my bones. Not that everything went perfectly or I had some magical, painless experience. But that something was given back to me.. something I honestly wasn’t sure I’d ever get.

You could say that going into this birth, I needed it to feel different.. I think I needed it to heal something.

Birth Center vs Hospital?

The months after Charli’s birth, I had a pretty complicated relationship with the idea of doing it again. The back labor pretty much left me with a bit of PTSD. Baths, meditation, breathing, certain outfits, etc., all triggered me. The thought of another 26 hours, being told “no” left and right, another 1-2 hours of my body begging to push while I was told to wait...was a lot to carry.

So this time, I made a different choice.

I chose a birth center. And I found my midwife, Dr. Erica Boland.

Erica is both my midwife and my chiropractor :) What that actually meant.. she knew me. Not just my chart or my due date. She knew my diet, my pregnancy history, my emotional state, and my very specific fear list. She knew about Charli’s birth and she knew about the losses and my journey.

From day one, her approach was so wildly different than my experience w/Charli. No cervical checks and no arbitrary timelines or pressure around my age (and if you’ve ever been pregnant after 35, you know how fast that becomes the only thing anyone wants to talk about). She was completely comfortable going to 42 weeks if my body needed it.

Every week, she did breath work with me, actual practice sessions for the low, deep breathing I would eventually use to push baby girl out. Each trimester, she recommended different stretches and exercises, all designed to keep my body and baby in the best possible position.

That last part mattered more than I realized at the time.

Because.. one of my biggest fears going in was having back labor again. After what I went through with Charli, the thought of experiencing that again without an epidural option (which a birth center doesn’t offer) was honestly the main reason I almost didn’t choose this path.

I told Erica that, too. She explained that, as a chiropractor, part of her job throughout the pregnancy was to keep the baby’s positioning balanced, because the tightness that builds during pregnancy can cause subtle shifts that could contribute to back labor. She had been working on this with me the whole time.

Mind you, I definitely felt some back pain during Collins’ labor. But it was nothing, NOTHING compared to the first time. And I don’t think that was a coincidence.

But honestly, more than anything specific Erica did, what she gave me was this: she educated, encouraged, and guided me instead of just managing me. There is a real difference between those two things, and once you’ve been on both sides of it, you can’t un-know it.

The Lead-Up

Starting around week 37, my body started what I can only describe as “rehearsals”.

I’d had Braxton Hicks early in this pregnancy, and wayyy more than with Charli, and by week 37, I was having prodromal contractions every 3-4 days. They’d show up around 1–3am, ten minutes apart, uncomfortable but manageable, and then taper off by morning. I’d lie there in the dark wondering “is this it??”

And then: nope. Not yet.

I genuinely believe those weeks of ‘practice contractions’ also helped prep my body. Whether that’s exactly how it works physiologically, I’m not sure, but I do believe our bodies are amazing and things happen on purpose. This one especially.

The Birth Day

1:30–3:00am: Prodromal contractions again. Ten minutes apart. At this point in the pregnancy, this was basically just another day. I tracked them for a bit, they tapered, and I went back to sleep.

5:30am: They started again. But.. this time, they didn’t stop.

7:00am: Spotting. I knew enough to know this could mean things were gearing up, maybe not today, but soon. There was a strange calm that came with it. Like: okay. is she coming?!

12:15pm: My water broke. Which I didn’t experience w/Charli. It was weird how excited I was ;) Sidenote: for those who don’t know, it doesn’t just happen once, it keeps coming for a bit.

Contractions stayed around 10 minutes apart and, honestly, on a pain scale, still pretty low. I told Erica, and we made a loose plan.. keep tracking, and head to the birth center when they get to around 4 minutes apart.

1:00–2:00pm: Contractions FINALLY crept to 8ish minutes apart. Slightly more painful, but manageable. I took a shower (which helped SO much, same as the first time).

At this point, I wasn’t sure when to tell our sisters to leave. My contractions were not really dropping in time, but my sis was 2.5hrs away and wanted her at the birth. So, she decided to head out.

2:00–3:00pm: Things started to progress, fast.

Within an hour, contractions dropped to 4 minutes apart. Talking through them was definitely getting a bit harder. My husband had to run to pick up Charli from daycare, and we had to get a friend over to watch Charli since his sister wouldn’t arrive on time.

Erica said she wouldn’t be surprised if it really kicked into gear once I knew Charli was taken care of.

She was right.

3:30pm: We left the house.

On the drive, my husband tried to make conversation, and I genuinely could not respond. I was somewhere else entirely. And then during one contraction, it hit me: the pressure was LOW.. and I know what that means.

3:40pm: Walking In

We pulled up to the birth center about 12 minutes after leaving home.

I walked in and went straight to the toilet. Sitting there helped manage the pressure in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’ve been there ;) They asked if I wanted them to fill the tub.

YES. Please.

I know it only took about 8 minutes to fill the tub, but let me tell you it felt like an hour. And when I got in... I felt that relief. This is what I always wanted.

I was able to float just slightly, and that’s when I realized my healing had begun :)

It still hurt like hell, but it was calming and felt so natural.

3:55pm: “Then Push.”

A contraction or so later, I looked at Erica and told her I really think I need to push.

She said: “Then push. Breathe low and deep.”

I just thought: Wait, really?

Because with Charli, when I felt that urge, I spent over an hour being told I couldn’t act on it. My body was doing something primal and completely unstoppable, and I was coached to fight it. To wait until someone else decided I was ready (with constant cervical checks). And I did, because they told me to, and it was one of the hardest things I have ever physically done.

Just me and a midwife who trusted my body as much as I finally was ❤️

I pushed the way we had practiced for weeks.. low moaning, not high, deep breaths in, controlled low breath out. Erica coached me and reminded me to bring my sounds back down when they started to climb. Then, suddenly, she told me to reach down and feel her. 😳 Already?!

I don’t know exactly how many times I pushed, but I know it wasn’t three hours, and I know I was finally told the proper way to push.

4:15pm

And there she was, my baby girl, on my chest.

I just floated there for a moment in that tub with my daughter on me, completely in shock. Not a shock of relief that pain was finally over (although that too ;). Moreso in shock that I just had the birth I’ve prayed for.. my second-chance.

The crazy thing? Weeks before she arrived, I had a dream that my labor was 20 minutes. I woke up from it and thought: That’s got to be impossible.

But from the time I got into that tub to the moment I put Collins on my chest was about 20 minutes.

In that moment, hearing her fresh little cries, I thought about the two losses, the months of eating completely clean, sleeping on a schedule, balancing my blood sugar, sweating in baths to detox, taking all the extra vitamins, and building back my hormones. And then I thought about seeing those faint two pink lines in August, the vanishing twin, the daily fears, and the week finally got to hear a strong heartbeat, and of course, every appointment where I cried the second I heard it again.

And then I looked at her.

We did it, baby girl. Your mama did it.

What This Birth Gave Back

I’m not writing this to tell you a birth center is right for everyone, and I know full well how insanely lucky/grateful to have the experience I did.

My body grew Collins through the hardest moments, fearing the worst every single day. But it held onto her when everything in me was scared it wouldn’t. It practiced for weeks with contractions that I now believe happened for a reason. And it knew when it was “time”, and I trusted it.

The back labor didn’t come back the way I feared. The tub was actually ready this time. And nobody told me I couldn’t push.

Three things that made this experience feel so night and day from the last.

To Charli

In December 2021, your dad and I had our first-ever discussion about the possibility of having kids. At that dinner, I knew it meant having more than one (even if he didn’t ;).

It’s because I look back on my childhood and know I couldn’t have gotten through it without my sister by my side. Siblings are a true gift. They are built in best friends. And that’s something I’ve always envisioned the minute we decided to have you.

I thought about the moment you would get to meet your little brother or sister before you were even born. So, to say my heart grew 10x the moment you saw your sister would be an understatement

To Collins

You don’t know this yet, but you were prayed for in a very specific way.

The year before you were born, I lost two babies, I rebuilt my hormones, my diet, my sleep, and my faith in my own body because I believed deeply that it was capable. That you were possible.

I had to look beyond the medical system that simply told me, “I’m sure the next pregnancy will be fine,” and do my own research, my own hormone testing, and my own healing.

You came into the world in a warm tub and a quiet room. You were calm.. I was calm. It’s like you already knew your mom had been through enough ;)

I can’t wait to tell you this story someday :) I look forward to the day I get to sit across from you and explain what it actually feels like to pray for something that specific, and then watch it happen exactly the way you asked.

You were worth every single thing, Collins. Every single little thing.

We’re so glad you’re here ❤️

Where do you start? What works together? What matters most?

The thing is, fonts and colors aren’t meant to be chosen separately. They’re a system, and when they aren’t speaking the same “visual language”, your Substack ends up looking inconsistent even if every individual choice is technically fine.

Start With Style, Not Fonts

Before you open Google fonts, search Pinterest, or start pulling hex codes, you need to answer one question:

What direction is your Substack?

Not your favorite color, not just a font you think looks pretty, but the actual personality of your publication.

A few ways to think about it…

Is it timeless or modern? Timeless brands lean into serifs, warm neutrals, and a sense of history, heritage, and luxury. Modern brands prefer clean sans serifs, high contrast, and restraint with a sense of minimalism, boldness, and neutrality (not super feminine or masculine).

Is it warm and creative or clean and editorial? Warm, creative publications can handle more texture, lettering, and creative colors. Editorial publications thrive on structure, limited color, and strong typographic hierarchy.

Read more

If you missed the story behind this journey, you can read about it HERE and HERE

I’ve been preparing for this for months, trying to wrap up client projects. But there’s still the strange feeling of stepping back from something I’ve shown up for almost every day for 15 years.

There’s definitely that excitement about taking 6-8 weeks off, but a fear that I’ll realistically only get 4 (hello, sole-income earner).

But, with that being said, here’s what the next few months look like for this little space of mine.

What’s staying the same

I’m not completely disappearing. You’ll still see posts from me on Substack as I’ve pre-written some content for the next several weeks, and I’ll be writing new pieces when I can during nap times and quiet moments (assuming those exist with a newborn and a toddler 🫠).

I will also try to share more past projects on my blog and Instagram.

Free Substack subscribers: You’ll still get something to read every few weeks. The pace might be slightly slower, but the quality and substance won’t change.

Paid Substack subscribers: I would love to do a Q&A in April, share past case studies, and create some deeper content. You’ll still get first access to anything new.

What’s cha-cha-changin’

I’m giving myself permission to try and slow down, especially when it comes to client work.

For years, I’ve operated at a pace that didn’t leave me all too much room for rest. Posting on social, designing constantly, always thinking about the next thing to launch. It worked.. for the most part ;)

Mat leave is forcing me to test something: can this business work at a slower pace?!?

Well.. I’m just going to assume it can. I think the insight that I offer here isn’t about volume. It’s about depth, and if you know me, you know depth might not be consistent with sharing and posting.

So you might see longer pauses between posts, and me sharing more about life and less about design for a season. If that sounds boring or not up your alley, unsubscribing is always an option, and I won’t take it personally (promise).

But I have a feeling most of you are here because you like the whole picture.. the business stuff and the life stuff and the honest mess of trying to do both as a creative and a mom to littles. If that’s you, stick around. The next few months might be some of the most real content I’ve ever shared ;)

Why I’m not fully stepping away

You might wonder why I’m not completely turning off my email, letting my substack and socials go quiet, and simply disappearing for three months..

THREE reasons.

1. Based on my last maternity leave, I was on my phone a bit at night and during feedings. That allowed me to gather ideas, news, trends, and play with AI, etc. So, even when life is chaotic, I still tend to keep an eye on things I want to share.

2. Substack feels exciting to me, more of a ‘diary’ in a way. Not as a marketing channel or a business obligation, but as a place where I can be honest about what this work/life actually looks like. The pretty parts and the messy ones.

3. Finally, I can’t really “stop working,” as I saw how insanely quick our bank account plummeted when I took 6 weeks off the last time. So, as the sole-income earner, I can’t go MIA.

If you’ve been on the fence about paid

This is me, being direct: if you’ve been thinking about becoming a paid subscriber, now might be a good time. Not because I’m desperate for the revenue (though it will definitely help). But because the next few months of content will be different. More personal, more behind-the-scenes, more real.

The case studies and AI prompts and pricing breakdowns will still come. But there’s going to be more of the other stuff too.. the things I’m only comfortable sharing with a smaller group.

If that sounds like something you want to be part of, the paid subscription is $7/month or $75/year… and you can now do a FREE 2-DAY TRIAL ;) P.S. You can cancel anytime if it’s not what you expected.

FREE 2-DAY TRIAL :)

What I’m hoping for

Honestly? I don’t know exactly what the next few months will look like, but all I can hope is that I have a safe labor and a healthy baby girl 🙏

I know I’ll be sleep-deprived, I know there will be hard days, and I know my capacity will be different from what it is right now.

But I also know that I’ve done this before. I’ve built a business while raising a tiny human.. and I survived. More than survived, actually. Became better at protecting my time and prioritizing what matters.

Maybe this round will teach me something new; you never know.

If nothing else, it’ll give me more material to write about, am I right??

See you on the other side!

The Client

Meet Liz, she runs a Boston-based wedding planning and design firm specializing in high-investment, multi-event New England celebrations. She’s been in the events industry for over a decade, working her way up through custom stationery houses, large-scale catering companies, and ultra-luxury planning firms.

Her clients are affluent, design-conscious couples planning legacy-caliber weddings. Think: heritage venues, neutral palettes, Serena & Lily interiors, Ralph Lauren tailoring. They value tradition but want it to feel modern and intentional. They’re not trendy for the sake of being trendy.

When Liz came to me, she needed more than a logo refresh. She was changing her business name entirely. “Liz Pruitt Events” had served her well, but it no longer reflected the level of service and aesthetic she was delivering. So, now she needed something that felt established, refined, and warm without being cold or overly minimal.

What I Found in Discovery

My process always starts with my Brand Style Workbook. I give this to every client, and I read it closely (a few times ;).

I’m not looking for what they say they want, I’m looking for repetition. The words and ideas that show up again and again, often without the client realizing it.

In her workbook, I kept seeing the same style themes:

Her brand season landed between Fall and Winter. Not coastal. Not flashy. She described her ideal brand party as “golden hour at Contessa at The Newbury Boston, champagne coupes in hand, candlelit seated dinner with handwritten calligraphy place cards.” The florals would be single-variety blooms in vintage glass vessels. Jazz in the background. Zimmerman dresses.

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